


Elizabeth Fleet

by twoofdiamonds



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Poetry, Witches, poem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 18:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3498065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twoofdiamonds/pseuds/twoofdiamonds





	Elizabeth Fleet

Deep in Knott Woods where two paths meet  
Is a clearing of calm and uncanny cool  
Where the blossoming may is sickly sweet  
And the birdsong so loud as unusual  
They say that the ghost of Elizabeth Fleet  
Never left, but yet shades her woodland dell   
Where the flowering tumbling brambles alone  
Shroud the ruins of stone that were once Lizzie's home 

The trees, unchanging and ancient stood by   
When the villagers came with savage and spite  
Deadly intent in a red sea of eyes  
Torches aflame and by madness of moonlight  
They shrieked with a passion "The witch must die!"  
And the blaze was set, the cottage alight  
Her singular screams cut the night apart  
And sobered, each man fled into the dark

They say that she walks in late October   
The frosty woods when the moon is high  
Seeking revenge on the ones who killed her  
Cursing any man who passes her by  
And woe betide he who comes across her  
A terrible wasted wraith of the night  
Anguish and ice fill his heart at her gaze  
To rest on his soul 'til the end of his days

In the daylight clearing and ruins of stone  
Like the sudden wrench of aching memory  
A cold gush of wind makes the heavy trees groan  
And sets the rosebay to dancing busily  
But dying and sighing and always alone  
She quietly settles and watches intently   
For Lizzie Fleet waits for her lover's return  
Where the brambles creep and the fireweeds burn

They say she was one of the devil's own  
Taken in torment and driven to sin  
For her love went to war and never came home  
And she swore to live at the devil's whim  
That for his return she promised her soul  
And even in death she is waiting for him  
In the strange cool clearing where two paths meet  
Still listens the ghost Elizabeth Fleet


End file.
